Northern Ontario

Thunder Bay - Trowbridge Falls

Camping season has come to an end at Trowbridge Falls and once again I had the wonderful experience of camping here. Through out the last year I have received a handful of letters concerning Trowbridge Falls and one witness report. The report is as follows:

A group of people who were very interested in the Trowbridge story decided to take a trip there to see if they could capture anything on photograph. The witness Kyle said "A group of friends, 5 of us to be exact went out to see if we could get some pictures of the alleged ghosts, laughing and joking with each other about it. But when we got out there, we were having a good time sitting around flashing our cameras around, it started to get creepy. Standing by the car, outside we kept hearing noises in the field, and by the trail that was no more than 20 feet away from us. It wasn’t animals, it wasn’t wind, it was unexplainable noises. We also kept seeing things that we all convinced ourselves, were just our imagination and I’m pretty sure they were. But the cold chills and bad feelings we got just standing outside, went from joke, to scary" Kyle and his friend Josh said they will be returning with a video camera in the future.

Any experiences can be emailed at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or you may use our submission form. Please keep the letters coming and remember that this park is a municipal park and not a "party place". This is not the place for base jumpers or thrill seekers, it is extremely dangerous especially when drinking alcohol. Police have had recent reports of bon fires getting out of control there so please preserve the area for all to enjoy !

- Laura Gervais

Below is the original write-up that was on this site...

The following was sent in by one of our readers named Naomi in Thunder Bay...

There is a park in my hometown called Trowbridge Falls. I believe there is a campground there, although I have never been right into the campground. I had never heard any stories about Trowbridge, at least, nothing pertaining to my experiences there. I began to hear things afterward though, when I asked the right people.

I went up one night as a teenager with my boyfriend, to do what most teens do at a park...late at night. Suddenly I heard someone tapping on my window. Thinking it was a police officer or perhaps a fellow 'parker' I looked over. There was nobody there. I shrugged and went back to what we were doing. The tapping noise came again, a little louder and I took a good look around. There was nobody standing there and the parking lot was empty of other vehicles. I wondered if it could be the wind, or perhaps the engine cooling. I ignored it again. A few minutes later the tapping noise recurred, but this time it was much louder, more like someone rapping their fingernails loudly on the glass of the passengers side window. My boyfriend, big tough guy that he was, nervously asked me to take him home, he was getting creeped out. I have to admit, that last bit of rapping on the window touched one of my nerves too.

The park is very far out of town, not by car, but it would take hours to reach on foot. Also, it was winter, and I don't think anyone would have strolled that far out of town on foot. I finally convinced my boyfriend to go back to that park about three weeks later. In truth, I was hoping to experience the noise again, I have always been a ghost buff. We parked again and waited. It was about one in the morning and the park was deserted. We waited, and waited and waited. Nothing happened. So, we left the park very disappointed (well, I was disappointed anyway, I think he was relieved).

We did return though, the next night because our other plans had fallen through. This time we began cudling and kissing. No sooner had we started "getting more comfortable", (mom if you're reading this we were JUST playing checkers,) than something jerked the back end of my van. I turned around and leapt into the back seat to see what was behind my vehicle, but nothing was there. He suggested we leave immediately because he insisted he had a 'real bad feeling'. I said get in the drivers seat, let's go then. I have to admit, something did NOT feel right. There was a loud noise, like something rammed the back of the van, but there was absolutely nothing there.

I started bringing a friend of mine there, who was also interested in ghosts. He brought his dog, a pit bull trained as a guard dog. His dog was very friendly, but did not take kindly to people who exuded a threatening manner. She loved to go and run in the field beyond the parking lot. Although it was hard to see her at night, she always came back out of breath and full of snow, often with a stick. She would run for about half an hour an getting her back before that half hour was up was an impossible task.

Well one night we brought her out and she went barrelling out into the field. About ten minutes later she came back and put her paws up on the driver's side window, beside my friend. She seemed very agitated so we let her back into the car. She curled up on the opposite end of the back seat and began whimpering, something she had never done before. We were wondering what could have happened, so we got out to see if someone else had bothered her. As soon as the door opened she started to howl and snarl at the same time, a horrible sound if you've never heard an animal do it. We left the park and she did not calm down until we were about 20 minutes away.

My friend took her out there by himself the next night, but she would not get out of the car. He waited around for a few minutes to see if she might change her mind. Suddenly, the dog began to utter a very low, guttural growl and my friend said he became very uncomfortable. He heard that same distinct tapping on his window and when he turned to see who had knocked he saw a stark white face staring into the car, less than an inch in front of his own face. It had only a vague outline for a body, but no eyes, he remembered very distinctly seeing the trees through the eye openings. The dog started yelping and gagging, they drove away very quickly. He phoned me at home to tell me what happened and we returned soon after, without the dog. It remained quiet however, so we left. As we drove away we came out onto the main road and saw something that looked like a dog running across the road. When the headlights from the car caught it, the dog stood up onto its hind legs and as it ran away into the bushes it looked very much like a man. It appeared to be nude, as in not wearing clothes, but we saw no details beyond that. The driver slammed on the brakes and the car skidded to a halt. We got out, but didn't see anything else unusual after the dog/man ran into the bushes.

We returned to that park many more times, as friends, and today we are married, but nothing more ever came of those experiences with the eye-less thing. We began, slowly and carefully, telling friends and co-workers what had happened out there and soon we began to get some stories of our own. A man my husband once worked with was attacked and severely beaten by two (he thinks) invisible assailants. Another man claims he was walking his two large German Shepherd dogs at that park one night and something spooked the dogs. He tried to leave and one of the dogs was picked up by something he couldn't see and was tossed well over 20 feet into a tree. The dog recovered, and he never went back.

A couple times we heard people say the spirit haunting the park had been nicknamed "The Undertaker". I think that part is all urban legend malarkey, but I know from my own experiences that there is something there.

This story defies our usual way of designating things we put on the site but we were so intrigued that we felt that it deserved to be published with the author's approval. We (and they,) would be VERY interested in anyone else's experience in the park. If you have something to add, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Update - May 2005 From Ontarioghosts' Investigator, Laura...

I have researched and visited Trowbridge Falls on many occasions. I regularly camp there with my family during the summer months. After much research and investigating of the area I have found information in the story to be incorrect.

Trowbridge Falls Facts:

Trowbridge Falls is located off Copenhagen Road and lies across the Current River from Centennial Park. A small bridge connects the two areas, allowing easy access to the trails in both Centennial Park and the Cascades Conservation Area to the north of the city. There are 140 campsites. Facilities include a small store, showers, restrooms, and laundry facilities. This campsite is year round. Therefore attendants are on site.

In the story the witness stated that "the park is very far out of town... it would take hours to reach on foot..." I recently tried this. It takes 10 minutes from the nearest house on Copenhagen Road and 20 minutes from the nearest house on Hodder Avenue also located in the City.

These many connecting nature trails have alot of wild nature within them. Specifically racoons, deer, porcupines, rabbits, skunks and yes, I have even seen moose here. It is not that ridiculous to believe that the dog in the story could have been attacked by another animal. She did say the dog was gone for 10 minutes, and the park is very dark at night... there are no street lights here.

The parking lot of Trowbridge is famed for its teenage drinking spot... which is one reason why police monitor this spot regularly. The possibilities are endless, the man could have been a police man, fellow camper, park attendant with a flashlight in the dark parking lot. The nude dog/man creature that was only caught by the headlights of the car could have been a deer or moose... which are extremely common on this road.

Camping season has started for me and I will be camping here once again in June or July of this year. I will keep you updated on my experiences there.

If anyone has had any experiences of their own at Trowbridge Falls City Campground I am very interested in hearing them.

Please e-mail Laura at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.